Coping with Mental Illness at WIU
Trigger Warning: This article discusses Mental Illness, and briefly touches on contemplated suicide. As of the time of writing this piece, it has been roughly one week since I asked a group… Continue reading
Not Your Stereotypical English Major
Being an English major is cool and all, but I think it’d be so much cooler if I was the stereotypical English major. I joined the game kind of late; I declared my… Continue reading
Being an English Major while Residing Temporarily in Simpkin’s Hall
It has been a journey as an English major while at Western Illinois University. Simpkins became my home away from home. Seven years ago, I embarked on my college career as an… Continue reading
Jerry Hansen Retires
When Jerry Hansen arrived at WIU in 1984, he had no idea he’d stay 34 years. Here in WIU’s English Department, Jerry found his home. He immediately immersed himself in the… Continue reading
Letter from the Chair — Reading Beyond the Present Moment
This Spring my undergraduate mentor, Dr. Jeffrey Skoblow, retired from teaching. Jeff Skoblow will always be the embodiment of “English” for me. A deeply read Marxist theorist, specializing in William Morris and Victorian… Continue reading
2017-2018 Awards and Announcements
Award Winning Students Each spring, the English Department awards $20,000 in scholarships and fellowships for our graduate and undergraduate students. We are pleased to announce the following students were awarded English scholarships this… Continue reading
2018 Magliocco Lecture: Dr. Adrienne Brown
What do you think of when you look at a skyscraper? Perhaps you imagine the view from the top floor, or maybe you visualize the impressive skyline a group of skyscrapers can make. But… Continue reading
Conference Craze: My Experience Attending the National NCTE and National Sigma Tau Delta Conferences
As English majors, all of us are familiar with the amount of dedication, sweat, and tears it takes to write a solid essay or create a complex project. Many times, these projects and… Continue reading
Proust Questionnaire: Dr. Rahman
Shazia Rahman loves to teach and to learn. She is a postcolonial ecocritic, and she is in the process of publishing her first book while writing her second. Time spent in her office… Continue reading
Webtoons: My New Literary Obsession!
It is 1:00 in the morning. I am staring at my phone, completely transfixed and seemingly dead-eyed, but my mind is racing. I scroll to the the next panel in the online… Continue reading